Some Memories Never Fade
by It'sBrie0508
Summary: Chasing an Unsub down an alley leaves one Agent trying to chase herself - or at least, her memories. Femslash - established Jemily. *Rating may change*
1. Setting the scene

Wind whipping through her hair as her feet pounded the gravel pavement, she narrowly avoided the dumpster jutting out of the alley their perp had just darted down. Risking a look behind her, Special Agent Emily Prentiss saw her team close behind her. She turned her focus back to the Unsub they were currently chasing. They had planned for this, profiled that he would flee. Unfortunately, they had not expected him to be packing heat – his preferred method of torture and murder being rather large knives instead. So when the sound of a gunshot being fired echoed around the alley, it took Emily a moment to put two and two together, and realize the pain she now felt was connected to the deafening sound. The adrenaline rushing through her veins muffled the pain from searing to aching, long enough for her to tackle him to the ground.

Footsteps ricocheted around them, and Emily knew her team had her back. More specifically, Special Agent Derek Morgan. Focused as he was on cuffing the murdering bastard, he hadn't spotted the blood gushing from Emily's wound. Their guy now detained, Emily rolled off him, her adrenaline high quickly giving way to a blinding flash off pain and her vision started to fade at the edges. She laid flat on her back in the middle of the grubby alley, breathing heavily, the rest of the BAU catching up to the scene. It was Dr. Reid who first processed the terrifying sight, his mind working at warp speed, statistics and textbook passages flitting through his head. The rest of the team quickly caught up however, when they heard their Media Liaison Jennifer Jareau scream Emily's name, and drop to he knees beside her.

Tears welled up in Jayj's eyes, spilling down her cheeks. Angrily brushing them aside she stared despairingly down at Emily – who for her part, was staring upward, confusion clouding her dark brown eyes. All Emily could focus on was Jayj. Sounds of sirens from the local cops who had shown up to take their Unsub to central booking, the rest of their team looking worriedly down at her, the shouts for medics, flashing lights, all of it had faded away into the distant background, leaving Jayj in startling clarity as Emily struggled to fight off the impending darkness.

"Don't you dare shut your eyes Emily, stay with me, come on dammit! Stay with me…" Sounds of Jayj's pleads rang through Emily's ears. The feel of Jayj's fingers stroking her cheek, brushing her bangs from her face, before squeezing her arm, and interlocking their fingers together gave Emily the motivation to slur out a whispered, " I'll never leave you." She drew in a breath, looking deeply into Jayj's eyes. As she exhaled, a breathy "I love you Jennifer," tumbled out. A second later, Emily's eyes closed, and she succumbed to the pull of unconsciousness.

Jayj held Emily impossibly close, cradling her bleeding head in her lap, crouching over her, whispering, "I love you too Emily," over and over, in an almost frenzied fashion. Medics arrived, and she was pushed to the side as they hurried and hovered over Emily. She felt a hand of support on her shoulder, but she was too focused on Emily to react, snatches of conversation infiltrating her mind, words such as, "gun shot wound to the head," and, "thready pulse," reverberating inside her brain.

The next few hours rushed around Jayj as she disconnected from the world around her. She sat, unmoving, in the waiting room, as nameless, faceless people came and went. Tears of joy, sadness, desperation and pain permeated the air, saturating the atmosphere, weighting down the space around them. None of it touched Jayj; she had retreated too far into her own mind – thoughts of Emily rushing through her mind, memories and fantasies colliding together.

Hours became days, days turned into weeks, two to be precise. Changes were made, different medical decisions, different staff, a move to a different hospital closer to home – and yet there was no change in Emily's condition. Sure, she was in a stable coma rather than crashing on the operating table, but Jayj didn't want 'stable coma,' she wanted Emily to get better, to wake up, to just be Emily Prentiss again, not patient 437,02.

The team had been given the first week off work – compassionate leave Strauss had called it (though she hadn't seemed able to summon up much compassion, a simple, "hope she recovers," being all she had managed to say on the matter). The team had spent the week rotating who was at the hospital, who was resting at home and who was on Jayj watch. Four days ago however, their unit chief Aaron Hotchner had received news of a case, and reluctantly the team had left for Florida, bodies had been found on the beaches of the sunny state. Unsurprisingly, Jayj had not joined them. She had not even left Emily's hospital room; she had barely even left her bedside, simply flashing her badge at any and all hospital personnel who had tried to convince her to do otherwise. This meant that Jayj was now alone in Emily's room, although technical analyst Penelope Garcia did check in whenever she could, fretting and fussing over her.

It was the fifteenth day when change finally washed over them. Like a scene from a horror movie, Emily sat bolt upright, screaming, her eyes glazed and unseeing. The flat tone of the now disconnected heart monitor provided a terrifying backing track, and prompted the room to fill with nurses. Hands attempted to push Emily back down, and pull Jayj away. Words of security and comfort filled the room, but Emily did not cease in her struggles. It was not until she heard the words leave Jayj's lips that she finally calmed, and as Emily looked into Jayj's eyes, the panic in both women finally disappeared. The nurses pushed Emily back down once more, and a ghost of a smile crossed her lips, before she closed her eyes once more.

As panic and chaos gave way to a serene calm, Jayj allowed herself hope.

Hope could be a dangerous thing.


	2. Mrs Angel

N.B. Some Profanity

It's bright. Too bright - and rather blurry. Emily winced and squeezed her eyes shut before blinking furiously. She looked around slowly, the pain throbbing in her head quickly making itself known. _Damn – what happened this time?_ A groan drifted past her lips as she realized just how stiff her body felt. Slowly, her senses trickled back to her, as she heard the faint yet irritating, steady beep from the various hospital machines she was hooked up to. Slowly, slowly, then all at once, she spotted the woman sleeping awkwardly in the chair beside her bed, her long, blonde hair mussed and matted, her blouse crumpled, a blanket draped haphazardly across her lap. Emily couldn't help but stare at her, drinking in her features under the harsh, sterile light of the hospital room.

 _Shit. I died._

That was all Emily could think as she stared adoringly at the angel before her. She was so busy repeating this refrain in her head, that she hadn't noticed the angel's light snuffling stop, her eyes open and dart around the room, before falling onto Emily's face. It was only when the angel startled and sat up straight, blanket falling, forgotten on the floor, that Emily realized the angel was staring straight back at her.

"Emily?"

Emily's eyes widened as the angel started speaking to her. _Oh! She knows my name!_

"Can you hear me? Are you ok? Sorry stupid question – are you in pain, is there anything I – I should really get a doctor…" As the angel spoke, all Emily could think was how beautiful her voice was, light and melodic. As the angel continued to stare at her, worry creeping upon her stunning features, Emily realized that she was still staring gormlessly at her, and quickly shut her mouth, flushing red. She tried to speak, but her throat felt dryer than the Sahara, and all that came out was a garbled, croaky mess.

"Here, there's some water, it's fresh – just sip it slowly. They had to intubate you for a while so that might be why your throat is sore." The angel guided Emily to sit up, and passed her a plastic cup with some water and a straw. Emily sipped at it, trying hard not to guzzle it down, the cool water refreshing her throat and clearing her head somewhat.

Listening carefully this time to more than just the sounds the angel was making, Emily managed to understand her. "Intubate huh? So I guess I'm not dead then?" Emily weakly joked, a tired smile on her lips. The angel just looked down at her in disbelief, before deciding that was a battle for another time. Instead, she leaned closer to Emily, gently brushing her bangs out of her eyes – being mindful of the bandage that wrapped around Emily's skull – and softly spoke, "Definitely not dead Em." Before Emily's battered brain could compute what was happening, the angel was kissing her – and not a peck on the cheek, but a proper, out of this world, stars in her eyes, toe-curling kiss.

 _Wow._ "Wow." Emily let out a breathy whisper.

The angel smiled down at her, a sweet giggle leaving her lips as Emily ogled upwards – her face on fire. _If I'm not dead, then I'm dreaming, and I_ _never_ _want to wake up._ Just as she was about to say as much out loud, there was a slight knock at the door and a nurse walked in. He was busy looking down at the chart in his hands, so it took him moment to realize the patient was awake.

"Oh, well, look who decided to come back to the land of the living." The nurse was jovial as he charted Emily's vitals and disconnected a couple of wires that were no longer required. He chatted the whole time, seemingly unfazed at the fact that Emily barely even glanced at him, too busy watching the angel, half scared that if she looked away, the angel would disappear forever.

The nurse left, peaceful silence claiming the room, both women content to simply look at one another, Emily acutely aware of the fact that the angel was holding her hand, stroking circles into her palm - the angel seemingly oblivious to the effect this was having. The moment was shattered by the door swinging open once more, this time a doctor entering.

He didn't bother with many niceties, simply introducing himself as Dr. Stevens before jumping straight into examining Emily, looking into her eyes with a light, and getting her to follow his finger with her eyes, plus a few other actions that he noted down on her charts.

"Well, this is all looking very positive Mrs. Prentiss, if I could just have you answer some basic questions, I think you'll be going home very soon – depending on the results of your CT scan of course. I'll be scheduling that for this afternoon."

Emily could only nod – despite the pain this caused, her mind replaying 'Mrs. Prentiss' over and over again, like a stuck record.

 _When the hell did I get married? Am I undercover? I don't remember … crap! What even_ _is_ _the last thing I remember? C'mon Emily think, he's probably going to ask me that, I absolutely cannot let on that I have no clue, he'll never let me go home…"_

As these questions rushed around her head, Emily felt a rush of gratitude to the way she was raised – her politicians face firmly in place, not showing her inner turmoil. "Fine, ask away, but try not to be _too_ cliché." Emily smirked at the doctor, who simply winked in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it kind of way, before starting his questioning.

"Ok Emily, who is our current president?"

"Obama." There was a subtle undertone of uneasiness in Emily's answer, but she was fortunate that Obama got a second term, as he was currently enjoying his sixth year in the white house. Although in Emily's mind, he had only just started his first.

"Great, and could you tell me your full name please."

"Uhh," Emily just heard 'Mrs.' echoing once more. Pushing past the slight panic, she replied, "Emily Elizabeth Prentiss."

Again, the doctor scribbled once more, but not before glancing at the angel who had been sitting silently next Emily, radiating support. Emily chanced a glance at her, and did not miss the slight hurt that shone out of her sea-blue eyes. _Uh oh – not a good sign. Do something!_ She caught the angel's attention and sent her her best apologetic shrug-and-smile, lightly squeezing the hand still holding hers, glad to feel an increase in pressure back. Suspecting the doctor's next question may be even more difficult to answer, she jumped in first with her own.

"So what actually happened? All I can remember is bits and pieces."

 _Not exactly true, but… not a complete lie either._ The doctor looked at her for a moment, and Emily held her breath, afraid she had been rumbled.

"You got shot Mrs. Prentiss. Shot in the head."

 _Well, he doesn't hold back his punches._

"You were rather lucky, as the bullet merely grazed the top right side of your head. Perhaps as much as 1cm deeper, and we would not be having this conversation." And with that pleasant thought, Dr. Stevens bid his farewell, telling the pair that an orderly would be taking Emily down for her scans in a couple of hours, and that she should get some rest.

"And tell your wife to get some rest too, she has not left your side since you were brought in – she deserves a medal for putting up with those terrible chairs, I'm surprised she can still move." With a wink and a wave, he was gone.

Emily barely heard a word he said past the fourth one.

 _Goddamn. I married a fucking angel. Am I sure I'm not dead?_

PM me with any/all questions - please review with constructive criticism. This storyline came to me in a vague dream, and I don't want it to be only making sense to me, so anything that you find confusing please, please, _please_ let me know so I can have a think and change things up/make things clearer.

B.


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